DAS result after having Rheumy appointment....

[shirlthegirl]

Morning, Just to let you know that i have had my first appointment to see my Rheumy Nurse today, She seemed really nice, she checked all my joints and gave me a DAS of 3.37, which i believe is moderate, A you know i had another steroid injection just over a week ago so she said it was to early to give me another one, I thought you could only have 3 a year, is that correct?, I have been having 120mg IM Depo-Medrone,

She is also going to arrange for me to go to a clinic in Oxford, where they will help me and give me advice on my condition and how to manage it better, she will also arrange for me to have physio, So it sound to me that i still have a long way to go before i can return to work, as there is still a lot of swollen joints the worse is in my wrist's knee and elbow,

Hope you are having a pain free day, Take care Xx

[earthwitch]

There are no absolute rules about how much steroid you can have, except that its generally understood you have as little as you can get away with because of the potential for serious long term side effects. Some folk get given steroid injections monthly for a few months to cover building up of DMARDs, in which case they might get up to three in a row. My GP won't give more than 4 short bursts of steroids in a year - either injection, or a week to ten days of the oral steroids, But, I recently had a specialist who was happy to prescribe oral steroids for two months at full dose and then tapering down over another three months - because she felt that was the best thing for me clinically right now. Wouldn't be something that she (or I) would do regularly though, and probably means I can't now have any more steroids for a longer period of time.

But, its really all down to a clinical decision by your doctor.

So glad you are getting the Oxford referral - anything like that is going to be really incredibly useful to help you manage your RA in the best possible way. I don't know the Oxford course, but I've heard of others and they all get really good reviews from people who have attended them. Gives you much more information and knowledge about how to deal with this disease.

[justlizz]

Hi I know my GP will not give me steroid injection but rheumy gives them with no probs but I find it easier to get an appt with him than I do my gp I do know for carpel tunnel they will only give 2 a yr but that is because more will do damage. I live in Naphill wich is not to far from you so if you are ever over this way let me know might be able to meet for coffee

lizz

[minka]

looks like ya getting to the base of the problem now shirl

dont know what das is shirl thought it was a washing powder in my day lol yal have to explain that on to me

im over the moon ya managed to get of the fags im still trying to cut down buy you just whent cold turkey (impressed)

whats the steroid shirl and do they shoot this in the joint?

ive put a new blog up today realy struggled yesterday and this morning over shot the marker as per usuall dont know when to stop and be counted.